A passive optical network typically comprises an Optical Line Termination (OLT) located at a service provider site, a splitter located between the service provider site and the plurality of customer sites, and a plurality of Optical Network Terminations (ONT), e.g., 32 ONTs, for serving the customers. The passive optical network has limitations due to signal level requirements of the transceiver components in the OLT and ONTs. For example, a typical passive optical network may limit the distance between the OLT and the farthest ONT to be 20 km with an 1:32 split ratio due to the attenuation of the optical signals. However, as service providers expand their network, serving more and more customers with the same network and being able to extend the reach of the passive optical network become more and more important. Providing a passive optical network for every 32 customers does not allow service providers to reduce the cost of the network, i.e., there is minimal sharing of network resources.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that extends the reach and/or split of passive optical networks.